The unemployment rate in the USA is down to just over 8%. This
is evidence that we are in a recovery from a recession. But that rate is actually
higher than it was when this particular recession began.

The patient’s temperature has gone up, a sure sign that the
patient is getting better. Huh?

Living under the rules of a profit and loss religion in a
market church controlled by private clergy, almost anything negative can be
made to sound positive, especially to those who have not yet felt the full impact
of a disintegrating political economy. But those who are experiencing its worst
aspects find no relief in academic jargon about structural or cyclical problems
, stagnation , supply/demand curves, unemployment blips and market equilibrium.
None of this helps them find jobs or borrow enough money to pay their rent,
mortgage, food bills or education loans. And as those people are not only in
the USA but in the rest of the world, the global nature of the problem makes it
more clear that a solution is far beyond a particular nation state and concerns
all of humanity.

An old admonition to act local but think global has come to
mean far more than was originally intended. Then it had almost nothing to do
with economics but now, if we don’t think and act economically we may assure
failure for the planet and all its inhabitants. That’s us, whatever market terminology may be used to hide
that fact behind national, racial,
religious or other divisive identity group labels that help keep power in
minority hands. And that minority is doing better than ever, in the short run,
amassing more power and money than any past godlike royalty in what were
supposed to have been more primitive societies. How much has really changed
since ancient times when peasants and slaves were ground underfoot so that
royal families and their wealthy sponsors could live lives of luxury? Not much,
in essence, though the material standard of living for workers became what was called middle class and assured
far more material comfort than previous generations of common people enjoyed.
That lasted until the present breakdown began decreasing the income of more
people at a faster rate so that the wealth of less people could increase at a
greater rate.

What kind of system is this? This kind:

If people are murdered in wars, that is good for the weapons
business. If illness and disease run rampant that is good for the medical
business. If natural disaster ravages communities and kills people, that is
good for the construction industry and the burial business. Such are the
realities of the cold blooded economics by which the people of the world have
been organized for hundreds of years. A profit for one always means a loss for many. The idea of keeping
people healthy, safe, secure and alive is reduced to the private force of doing
so only if they are able to create profits for those selling health, safety, security
and life itself to the highest bidder in the market. If we can’t afford to buy
those things and charity does not exist for us, we can just drop dead.

Millions of us do, and not only in bloody wars which profit
the war makers. Many of us starve for lack of food while others have to go on
diets because they eat so much. Many of us sleep in doorways, on the street or
under bridges, while dogs and cats have their own rooms in comfortable homes.
None of this happens because of individuals who are thoughtless or cold hearted
or murderous, although such do exist. But in a system which dictates that
profit must be created in a market sale, the owner of a private firm that makes
band aids can be the nicest person on earth but still only profit and prosper
if lots of people are bleeding. The social concept of doing all that is
possible to avoid bleeding would be terrible for his private business. That is
the case for every single human endeavor in the capital dominated religious
belief system of the market, an anti-human, anti-social core of political
economics that is threatening the future of all people all over the world.

Criticism and rebellion to such injustice is the history of
humanity but today it is growing far beyond the national minorities previously
involved in such struggle. People organized to obey authority, work for others
to survive, live in physical poverty or shop in moral poverty and vote for employees
of wealthy rulers when allowed to and call it democracy, have remained unorganizable
for the kind of change now necessary for the survival of humanity. But as the
critical conditions grow worse, new methods of communication among the people
are helping bring more rebellious
response to this old order of great wealth for the few at cost of crippling
poverty and debt for the many.

Under the threat of potential social collapse, environmental
destruction and radical revolution, those who reap the greatest profits are exploiting,
ravaging and murdering at insane rates in mindless desperation to maintain
their power and wealth. That cannot continue and is no longer tolerable to billions
of human beings nor the planet’s natural support system.

All over the world of capitalist anti-social democracy, the
collapsing structure has brought
about calls for austerity from the rulers and their paid minions in government.
This means further losses absorbed by the majority so that even greater profits
can accrue to ruling minorities. Establishment philosophers of mass culture operating
through corporate media still have enormous impact as they explain why the
present reality is all that exists and must be experienced without substantial
question. But when increasingly painful economic conditions for more people
combine with increasingly dangerous conditions for much of the natural
environment, the complex of events called material reality take on a new
meaning well understood by growing numbers who face that reality in all its
harshness and are less influenced by misinformation, propaganda and economic
fairy tales.

Thus, many world citizens, even while their governing powers
continue representing capital, wars and injustice, are rejecting the ugly
burdens forced on them by their rich overlords. Elections in some places are
small indications of change but far more indicative than the voting process
which is still under the control of capital, are the rising multitudes all over
the world all aiming for the same goal: a new world based on democratic power
exercised by people taking action as members of the one and only human race and
not simply as parties, religions, sects, cults or other labeled divisions which
serve to keep minorities in control of majority created wealth.

Those tiny minorities are the capitalists who somehow own
the fantastic wealth produced by enormous majorities of previously divided people.
The divisions still exist and the power still is in the hands of those
minorities whose days may be numbered, but so are those of humanity as well if
action is not taken to create the world of democratic equality which has been
the stuff of wishes and dreams but must become reality. Or else.

Doomsayers and doubters are in abundance and are to be
expected, even when they are not on the payroll of the ruling minority. It’s
easy to look at the state of the world and surrender to present reality. But that
is only possible for those not yet
suffering the ever increasing misfortune of dependence on a political economics
of profit for a few through loss,
pain and misery for most. It is not just time for social change activists but
for all citizens of the world’s 99% to heed the words quoted at the beginning. An
end to the reign of minority capitalism is necessary to save the earth and all
its people so that we can begin a human society offering hope for all and not
just some.

The spectacle of hegemony-driven media coverage has moved beyond absurdity into utter lunacy. This week, our media czars were allegedly concerned that the American electorate might be induced to elect a bully to the highest office in the land, though why this should be considered objectionable in an imperial state more dedicated to bullying than anyone else in the world, remained unexplained.

"Once a bully, always a bully," said Democratic Party lickspittle Paul Begala in TheDailyBeast.com. A front-page story in the Washington Post allegedly raised serious questions about Romney's suitability for the presidency. According to the Post, high-school "prankster" Romney became indignant when an effeminate classmate, John Lauber, appeared at school with bleached hair that hung down over one eye. "He can't look like that," said Romney to his friends. "That's wrong. Just look at him!" So Romney rounded up a posse to hold down the screaming, crying Lauber while Romney cut off the offending locks with a pair of scissors.

Romney's alleged sin is an inability to see the world from any perspective other than his own, which, liberals speculate, may be the reason why he opposes letting gays and lesbians marry their chosen partners.

As usual, annoying factual matters intrude. Are U.S. political leaders commonly noted for their ability to see the world from the perspective of others? Obviously not. President John Kennedy nearly blew up the planet due to his inability to see that Cubans couldn't accept being continually threatened with invasion, occupation, and regime change. Nixon, LBJ, and, in fact, the entire American political class, were blind to the legitimacy of Vietnam expelling the United States from its country, at a staggering cost in human life. Bush could not see why Iraq had a right not to be invaded and Obama can't fathom why Pakistani sovereignty shouldn't be continually outraged by pilotless drone attacks. And, of course, Washington's murderous contempt for the legally elected Palestinian government of HAMAS demonstrates with utter clarity that bullying is as American as Coca Cola.

See the world from the perspective of others? Where was this concern when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was openly insulted by Columbia university president Lee Bollinger on a visit to the U.S.? For questioning deeply treasured dogmas about Israel and the Holocaust Ahmadinejad was treated with undisguised contempt. U.S. blindness on that occasion was total. When Ahmadinejad made the obvious point that Iranian society has no Gay Liberation culture such as exists in the U.S., he was jeered at on the false pretext that he had outright denied the existence of homosexuality. Not one voice in the corporate media demonstrated any ability to see a point of view beyond Israel-first hysteria.

"He can't look like that," said Romney of his victim. And today, our leaders shout in unison, "They can't govern like that!" when a handful of states defies the consensus of the powerful. Romney formed a posse; Washington summons NATO for a "humanitarian" bombing.

The issue, however, is not a "compassion deficit," as the brainless babblers in the U.S. media would have it. The issue is the presumed democratic legitimacy of a U.S. political elite bound and determined to shove right-wing politics down the throat of an increasingly social democratic world. This elite has plenty of compassion for plundering investment firms deemed "too big to fail." What it lacks is sanity. Legalienate recommends it have its collective head examined, if an exceptionally talented proctologist can be found to do the job.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Around the same time 60 Minutes aired an interview with a proud U.S. "ex"-torturer on national T.V., a blind Chinese dissident (Cheng Guangcheng) critical of China's forced sterilizations and abortions took refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. There should be no trouble guessing which human rights abuses captured center stage among Washington's media lapdogs.

"Despite a perception that it is headed toward decline," the U.S. still represents "a beacon of freedom and human rights in China," said CSMonitor.com. Activists like Chen are not drawn to U.S. support and protection because of Washington's economic and military strength, but because of "the moral attraction of America's ideals."

As with most mass media commentary, this makes little sense. Why would a dissident seek the protection of any country, no matter how nobly idealistic, if its wealth and power were insufficient to afford real security? More importantly, how can a supposedly independent media miss the glaring hypocrisy in Washington condemning Chinese human rights abuses when the U.S. routinely practices torture? Beijing should feign contrition and ask President Obama for Washington's water-boarding schedule.

The New York Times was typically self-righteous in rushing to the support of hypocritical U.S. idealism. Although the U.S. needs China's help on North Korea, Iran, and global trade, said the Newspaper of Record, Washington should remind China's leaders that the Chen embarrassment would never have occurred if they "didn't deny their people the most basic human rights." Don't hold your breath waiting for the Times' editors to lecture U.S. leaders that 911 never would have happened if USrael "hadn't denied Arabs and Muslims their most basic rights," though this is obviously the case.

The British press also sermonized on the evils of China. Peter Foster in The Telegraph said that the "battered but indomitable" Chen alerted the world to the cruelty of Chinese one-party rule, presumably vastly different from Western multi-party cruelty. The fact that "a single, solitary human voice can bear witness to the plain truths that powerful nation states too often choose to ignore," said Foster, ought to give common people the world over "cause for hope and quiet rejoicing." Of course, such sentiments apply even more aptly in the case of Bradley Manning, held long-term in solitary confinement for leaking government documents proving that the U.S. indiscriminately killed civilians and collaborated in torture, among other crimes, but such criticism is not likely to enhance a journalist's career prospects in the West, where silence is golden.

Meanwhile, the federal student loan program became the latest focus of the public relations extravaganza known as U.S. presidential elections. Under pressure, the GOP caved in to extending a 3.4% student loan interest rate, rather than allowing it to double. The existing $6 billion subsidy to federal student loans was due to expire in July, pushing the interest rate to 6.8% and heaping an average of $2800 more in interest payments on 7 million undergraduates. Federick M. Hess in NationalReview.com was indignant about this "middle-class entitlement" being continued, claiming that the higher interest rate would only cost students about an extra 25 dollars a month at most. He has a point, though not his intended one. What's another 25 dollars a month in unpayable debt when students are already saddled with hundreds of dollars a month in student loan payments, while career job prospects for young people are virtually nil? Regardless of the interest rate, can a nation of waitresses and bartenders really be expected to foot the by now trillion dollar student loan bill?

Turning back to more important matters, it's hard to beat President Obama's targeted assassination program for total moral degeneracy. The program recently underwent a vast expansion when the president authorized drone strikes on suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen, even when the exact identities of the targets are unknown. In other words, we employ push-button mass murder at a distance to kill people we can't even identify in pursuit of some few dozen al Qaeda militants world-wide, who perversely object to Arab and Muslim countries being subjected to U.S. and Israeli hegemony. Why, indeed, do they hate us?

For those still intrigued by the official U.S. ethical value system, Legalienate offers the following guide. It is forgivable to blow-up wedding parties, but entirely wrong to burn a Koran. It's O.K. to kill civilians when their deaths are 100% predictable, but wrong to deliberately target them. It's O.K. to shoot, stab, poison, burn, crush, blow-up, or carve into pieces any designated enemy, but wrong to urinate on the corpse afterward. It's O.K. to train and fund Colombian counterinsurgency forces to kill thousands of Colombian civilians, but it's wrong for Secret Service agents to hire Colombian prostitutes when the U.S. president is visiting the country.

Sources:

The Week, May 11. 2012

Kevin Zeese, "Bradley Manning and the Rule of Law," Z Magazine, March 2011

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Shaken by the gay community’s reaction to the recent firing
of a gay worker, the Romney campaign announced the appointment of a special
agent in charge of Life Style Choices. The appointee is a transvestite, HIV positive,
transgender person legally married to a lesbian and a former director of
Affirmative Action Office of Consumer Affairs.

“This campaign will be a friend to all Americans, no matter
their choice of lifestyles , sex or profession, so long as they believe as we
do in the free market under the control of our rich people” said Romney campaign
spokesperson.

Romney immediately saw a rise of seven points in his
popularity among transvestite, Hiv positive, transgender and legally married to
lesbian Americans.

Not to be outdone, the Obama campaign was preparing an announcement
that they would be hiring a Drag Queen Female Impersonator as director of their
entertainment department. “Our campaign
is prepared to bend over, backwards or forwards, to please every conceivable
sector of our electorate. We will bow to no one or everyone, depending on financial
contributions, in our desire to please every segment of the people, no matter
how it wishes to be pleased “ said the campaign’s Director of Double Entendres ,
former hairdresser and football star Miss Toughie McThing.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

“I would’a got Osama in a week. It took this Ivy League punk three years? Gimme a break.”

Giacamo Mangicazzi, Mafia leader of the east and west coast
families of Cosa Nostra Umbriagon inc. and foremost Hollywood consultant on all
crime romanticizing and violence glorifying movies, announced his entry into
the presidential race with charges against both his major opponents.

“The other guys a moron or whatever they call that church. I
don’t care if he’s rich, I got more money then both a them put together and I never
went college but I support my catholic and jewish people who support me by
helping our organization with bookkeeping, accounting, legal advice and getting
rid of the garbage, if you get my drift. My campaign will get rid of this country’s
garbage, if you know what I mean. Know what I mean?”

At this point Mr Mangicazzi’s press secretary Gulio Matzachristi
Goldfarb, ordered reporters out of the room since it was time for his employer’s
daily consultation with Secret Service agents seeking the services of the
entertainment department of La Cosa Nostra Strunzi e Merde.